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Posted by: Kim_Hamilton on 12/14/2010 01:28 PM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 12/14/2010 01:28 PM
Expires: 01/01/2015 12:00 AM
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The Resource Connection Early Childhood Program Will Provide Parent Training on Managing Kids’ Health Care
UCLA/Johnson and Johnson Health Care Institute Helps Families and Decreases Trips to the Emergency Room. What do you do when your child gets sick? What can you take care of at home? When should you call the doctor or go to the emergency room? These are some of the questions that a hands-on health care training program will answer for one hundred or more Calaveras County families, beginning in January 2011. Since 2002, the UCLA Health Care Institute has trained over 15,000 families in Head Start and Early Head Start programs nationwide. The program has saved millions of dollars in inappropriate emergency room services and helps to keep children and families healthy.....
Parents who participated in the UCLA Health Care Institute’s training sessions from 2001-2008 have become better informed about their child’s health, reducing the number of unnecessary trips to an emergency room by 58 percent and visits to a clinic for common illnesses, like a cold, cough or mild fever by 42 percent. This added up to a potential savings of $554/family or about $5.1 million annually. The research showed a dramatic drop in the number of lost days at work (42%) and missed days of school (29%).
The study also revealed that most families did not have a medical reference book to use as a resource when their children get sick. Most families indicated that they really did not know what to do when their children got sick and thus rely heavily on the ER and local clinic for help. As part of the UCLA Health Care Institute’s training program, parents take home a 180-page book called, “What To DO When Your Child Gets Sick,” covering more than 50 common childhood ailments, from a cough to head lice to asthma and chicken pox, with information on how to tell the difference between ailments that are treatable at home and those that need a doctor’s care.
After the training, researchers found a marked improvement in parent’s self confidence with only 32 percent indicating they would still go first to a doctor or clinic. The number of parents using the medical guide as a first source of help jumped from 5 percent to 48 percent, indicating a better understanding and higher level of confidence in dealing with common childhood illnesses.
The Resource Connection Early Childhood Program offers comprehensive early education, home-based and community programs to qualifying families with the goal of engaging, enriching, and empowering families in Calaveras County. It is the Resource Connection Early Childhood Program’s goal to support parents and families in their role as their child’s first and most important teacher and to help them make better, more informed decisions to keep their kids healthy. Families interested in participating in one of three upcoming “I Can Help My Child Stay Healthy” trainings scheduled for January and February 2011 in San Andreas, Valley Springs and Angels Camp may call 772-3980.
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